ASK FATHER: Can a pastor forbid an assistant from using black vestments?

Posted March 2, 2017 5:50 pm by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a priest…
QUAERITUR:
Can a Pastor of a parish forbid a Parochial Vicar from wearing a black chasuble at funerals? I just heard of 2 pastors in Boston who have forbidden their traditional-minded parochial vicars from wearing black at funerals.
Black is an approved color for funerals, Masses for the Dead, in both the Traditional Roman Rite and the Novus Ordo. Permission is not needed to use black, nor can it be forbidden. It is a legitimate option.
That said, the “my house, my rules” state of reality generally applies in parishes and the locum tenens is the pastor. If the pastor is a monumental jerk,